Having Your Trees Cleaned

HAVING YOUR TREES CLEANED
by Gray Merriam

It's that time of year when the tree cleaners will come to your house.

The early birds have already come to our house. Numbers of both White-breasted and Red-breasted nuthatches are scouring the woods, checking all sides of every branch and the full depth of all bark crevices. They even check the logs of our house walls.

Along with the nuthatches, the phoebes are still around dealing with any flying food items. And the Chickadees are forming their winter foraging groups.

The fall warblers briefly filled the branches with active searching, topping up their fat reserves before a long trip south. Mostly greenish and brownish confusing fall warblers but with a few clearly black and white.

Migrating birds adjust their time and effort spent hunting in the trees simply according to how many insects they are finding; naturally adjusted biological control.